Introduction
What Remains of Edith Finch is a walking sim developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive. It was originally released in April 2017, but then saw a current gen release in September 2022.
Review
The Finch house is a giant, magical place that unfortunately has a terrible curse attached to the family who has lived there for generations. The Finch Family. But now it’s time for answers as you explore the house, learn what truly happened to everyone, and see if it’s really a curse, or nothing but bad luck.
I have already played this before, but I couldn’t help playing it again when it was released for Ps5. The game still looks amazing and sounds even better! The story focuses on every member of the Finch family as you explore the house and enter their specific rooms and end up basically reading a diary about their lives. It’s hard not to feel bad for these people as you play through their lives, as they all perish in really weird, or just unlucky ways. Like one who gets possibly eaten by a monster, or one gets hit by a train! It’s guaranteed to at least bring one tear to your eye. But on the flipside, you barely get time to actually know these people, as the stories just move so fast before their deaths.
Honestly for me, the best part of the game is easily exploring the house. It’s large, it’s magical, there’s secret passages going everywhere, and each person’s room is a lot different from the last. From someone being a movie star in the 60’s, so their room is filled with a Hollywood vibe, while another person in the family loved space, so his side of the room he shared with his brother was all space themed, and he even had a space “station” above his bed. It really makes you wish you had a room or house like that when you grew up. You get brief dialogue from the main character when you peek into the rooms from the sealed-up doors, and they give a brief relationship between them and the person room you’re looking into.
If only the family was bigger, or the stories were longer, I always wanted more. Or even flesh out some characters a bit more, like Edie the grandmother. You really learn nothing about her. Or Odin, the one who originally started building the Finch house. For as many stories as there are, there’s also just not enough. Heck I would’ve loved to work through some stories to see how some of the house was built, considering at one part, one of the members of the family lives in a friggin boat, that is teetering who knows how many feet into the air! How did it get up there? How did they build the house around it? Can I live in it, cuz it’s absolutely gorgeous and amazing! There are just not enough answers to all my questions.
I do wish the house had a bit more exploring to it, or let you fully explore it once you’re done with the story. Sure, you can chapter select to see specific stories again if you want, but after a certain point, you can’t go backwards anymore. Though there’s not much to really find in the environment, it’s still fun to look at everything on the walls, so long as it’s not just reused textures. Like rows of books being used again and again just to sort of cover space. The one thing the game could’ve used is a sprint button of some sort. Yes, I know it’s a walking sim, and you’re meant to take things slow, and breathe in the world, but there are a few points in the game, where being able to walk faster wouldn’t have been a bad thing, and I would rather my walking sims give me a choice to walk a touch faster than just slowly strolling around.
Rating
Pros:
- Fantastic Atmosphere
- Amazing Music
- Wonderful Stories
Cons:
- No Sprint
- Not Enough Stories
Summary
This game has been out for 5 years, and it’s still a shining example of how every walking sim should construct itself. It’s beautiful, the music is soothing, the stories are enjoyable, even if they’re short and there’s not enough. I just can’t get bored playing this game over and over. I love it so much and I hope we see a sequel someday, somehow, to bring us back to the gorgeous and magical Finch house.
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Game & Developer Information
Developer Website: Giant Sparrow
Developer Socials: Twitter
Publisher Website: Annapurna Interactive
Publisher Socials: Twitter
PSN Store Links: £15.99/€19.99 Europe / $19.99 North America
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